John Foster (5 May 1941 – 1 January 2009), was a British

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and tutorial Fellow of

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The l ...

, from 1966 to 2005 (and then a Emeritus Fellow until his death in 2009). He authored several books, including ''The Case for Idealism'' (1982) and ''A World for Us: The Case for Phenomenalistic Idealism'' (2008). His ''A. J. Ayer'' (1985) was described by

Anthony Quinton Anthony Meredith Quinton, Baron Quinton, FBA (25 March 192519 June 2010) was an English political and moral philosopher, metaphysician, and materialist philosopher of mind. He served as President of Trinity College, Oxford from 1978 to 1987; ...

as "the only serious monograph" about Ayer's philosophy.

Biography

Foster was born in North London on 5 May 1941 and grew up in Southgate. He studied at

Mercers' School The Mercers' School was an independent school in the City of London, England, with a history going back at least to 1542, and perhaps much further. It was operated by the Worshipful Company of Mercers and was closed in 1959. History After the ...

, but had to transfer to the

City of London School The City of London School, also known as CLS and City, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school for Single-sex education, boys in the City of London, England, on the banks of the River Thames next to the Millennium Bridge, ...

to do A-levels after Mercers' closure (about which he wrote a letter to ''The Times'' in protest). He started studying classics at

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Flemin ...

, but transferred to psychology, philosophy and physiology after discovering a distaste for studying ancient history. Foster stayed a further year at Lincoln, after obtaining a First in 1964, and began a D.Phil. The support of his doctoral supervisor, A. J. Ayer, ensured Foster’s election to a Stone-Platt Junior Research Fellowship at New College in 1965 and, a year later, to his tutorial Fellowship at Brasenose. He retained this position until ill health finally forced his early retirement, as a "Mr" in 2005. (As

Peter J. N. Sinclair Peter James Niven Sinclair (18 September 1946 – 31 March 2020)''Old Greshamian Club Address Book'' (Cheverton & Son Ltd., Cromer, 1999) p. 43 was a British economist. He was Professor, and subsequently Emeritus Professor, in Economics at t ...

notes, most Brasenose Arts tutors of Foster's generation, never completed a doctoral thesis). Foster was a devoted Christian and an outspoken pro-life campaigner. Foster met his wife-to-be Helen in 1963 and the two married in

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sand ...

in 1967. He joined the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. In 1989 both John and Helen converted from

Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Foster died on 1 January 2009.

Philosophical work

Foster's book ''The Case for Idealism'' has been described as a "leading assault on the reality of the physical world by a respected analytic philosopher". He argued against analytic reductionism. In his book ''The Immaterial Self: A Defence of Cartesian Dualist Conception of the Mind'', Foster defended Cartesian dualist arguments but ended supporting an idealistic conception of the mind, similar to

George Berkeley George Berkeley ( ; 12 March 168514 January 1753), known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland), was an Anglo-Irish philosopher, writer, and clergyman who is regarded as the founder of "immaterialism", a philos ...

's view.

Charles Taliaferro Charles Taliaferro (born August 25th, 1952) is an American philosopher specializing in theology and philosophy of religion. Biography Taliaferro received his Ph.D. and M.A. from Brown University, his M.T.S. at Harvard University, a M.A. at Uni ...

has commented that "some idealists, such as the late, great Berkeleyan John Foster, have defended Cartesian dualism as a kind of provisional or conditional position: given that there are mind-independent physical objects and processes, Foster argued that we have good reason for not identifying the mental and the physical". His 2002 paper ''A Defense of Dualism'' defined dualism as "the thesis that the mind and its contents are radically nonphysical". Under this definition, he argued that dualism is compatible with idealism. In his 2008 book ''A World for Us: The Case for Phenomenalistic Idealism'', he put forward a thesis called phenomenalistic idealism, which combines

phenomenalism In metaphysics, phenomenalism is the view that physical objects cannot justifiably be said to exist as " things-in-themselves", but only as perceptual phenomena or sensory stimuli (e.g. redness, hardness, softness, sweetness, etc.) situated in t ...

and

idealism Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, Spirit (vital essence), spirit, or ...

. The book is dedicated to George Berkeley. Foster's arguments against physical realism for Berkleyan idealism influenced Howard Robinson.

Works

Books authored *(1982) '' The Case for Idealism''. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London. . *(1985) '' A. J. Ayer''. Routledge & Kegan Paul, Boston. . *(1991) ''The Immaterial Self: A Defence of the Cartesian Dualist Conception of Mind''. Routledge, New York. . *(2000) ''The Nature of Perception''. Oxford University Press, Oxford. . *(2004) ''The Divine Lawmaker: Lectures on Induction, Laws of Nature, and the Existence of God''. Oxford University Press, Oxford. . *(2008) ''A World for Us: The Case for Phenomenalistic Idealism''. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Select papers/chapters * (1976) "Meaning and Truth Theory" in: Gareth Evans,

John McDowell John Henry McDowell (born 7 March 1942) is a South African philosopher, formerly a fellow of University College, Oxford, and now university professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Although he has written on metaphysics, epistemology, anci ...

(eds.) ''Truth and Meaning: Essays in Semantics'' Oxford * (1985) "Berkeley on the physical world" In John Foster & Howard Robinson (eds.), ''Essays on Berkeley: A Tercentennial Celebration''. Oxford University Press. * (1985) "Personhood and the Ethics of Abortion" in: (ed.). J. H. Channer, ''Abortion and the Sanctity of Human Life,'' Paternoster Press, * (1992) "The Construction of the Physical World." In L. E. Hahn (ed.), ''The Philosophy of A J Ayer''. Open Court. * (1993) "The Succinct Case for Idealism." In Howard Robinson (ed.), ''Objections to Physicalism''. Clarendon Press. pp. 293–313.

Biography

Philosophical work

Works

Notes and references

Further reading